This invention is directed to a voice controlled toy which makes a plurality of movements each of which is governed by an appropriate voice command uttered by the operator of the toy. The invention utilizes a radio transmitter and receiver for transfer of the voice commands from the operation to the toy. The toy further includes a CPU and an associated memory for comparing the voice command with stored records of voice commands. Electrical signals outputed by the CPU are fed to a plurality of switches which are interrogated one at a time by a drive mechanism in the toy. In response to recognition of a particular command, the toy executes a particular motion.
A variety of remote control toys are known. Earlier remote toys were in fact not true remote control in that they utilized a tether, coaxial cable or the like, to connect the operator of the toy with the toy. With refinement and miniturization of radio transmitters and receivers, true remote control toys were developed. These toys, however, were very limited in their action and for the most part executed only a single action or movement in response to receipt of radio signals.
Further sophistication of remote control toys utilized broadcasting at two different band frequencies such that two motions or movements could be executed. A variety of these so called "dual channel" toys are known. As for instance radio controlled race cars and the like are known which utilize a first channel to control a steering motion and a second channel to control an acceleration motion. Normally the operator inputs a signal to the transmitter by operation of a joystick or the like.
More recently remote control toys have been developed which respond to audio commands. These, however, are quite limited. They essentially respond to the presence of or the absence of any audio command, i.e. on and off. The source, content, or other individual characteristics of the audio command are completely ignored in these toys. It matters not what the audio command is except whether it is present or it is absent.
With the widespread poliferation of micro computers, CPUs (i.e. central processing units) have been developed which utilize either external or internal memory to store the pattern of a particular audio signal. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,181,821 and 4,348,550 give brief histories of developments in this area.
For the most part the research directed to voice recognition devices is associated with highly sophisticated and expensive systems. It goes without saying that in order for a toy to incorporate and utilize any type of technology, the use of this technology in the toy must be extremely simple and economical. Because of the practicalities of the marketplace it is extremely difficult to incorporate new technologies into toys because of the complexities and the cost associated with those technologies. In order for the toy to become an economical reality, its mechanism must be simple, inexpensive, and capable of mass production. Further, the ultimate toy must not be "fragile" because the users of the toy, children subject their toys to rigorous use and abuse.
Because of the above considerations, it is simply economically unpractical to burden a toy with multiple motors each which only drives a single function. Further, it is impractical, because of the user of the toy, to burden the toy with extremely complicated controls beyond the intellectual development of the young user of the toy. Additionally, any technology incorporated into the toy must be entertaining in order to maintain the interest of the child yet it also can not be unduly complicated which would inhibit enjoyment of the toy by the child.